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Musings. Family. Food. Stories. Cooking. Recipes. Eating. A recipe journal. From simple Filipino dishes to challenging recipes and exciting gastronomical failures. This is for my girls to look back on for comfort, memories, laughs, love and lots of food!

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Purple yam (Filipino ube) cake for the November SABH

The colour purple signals the
middle of spring in Sydney. When jacarandas are in full bloom and every nook
and corner is just alight with these purple beauties.They’re gorgeous from afar and up close.The downside is that these purple beauties
don’t last long.A few weeks after they
bloom, they’re already down on the ground wilting away.But never mind. Jacarandas are beautiful
no matter what.

And so it goes without saying, my
inspiration for this month’s Sweet Adventures Blog Hop hosted by JJ from 84th and 3rd, is inspired by this
Australian flora.The colour
purple.And its timing that it is my
mother’s fave colour, and the weekend of the SABH coincides with my mom’s birthday.And even though she’s in the Philippines
celebrating with my dad and other family members, we celebrated her birthday
here too.With a cake that’s her
favourite colour.Purple yam cake (or
Ube cake in Filipino parlance).

Ube or purple yam is an
indigenous Filipino root crop.Alongside
the sweet potato, cassava or tapioca, parsnip, turnip and taro, the purple yam
is a favourite ingredient in many Filipino sweets.These purple beauties are added made into
cakes, cupcakes, puddings, rice cakes, tarts or pastries, flavoured in jams and preserves, topped in coldtreats, ice cream and even shakes! As a
matter of fact, they are used in more sweets than savoury dishes.Considering it is infact a vegetable makes it
for the perfect “vegetable” showcase for my post.Check out Jun Blog's post about this special vegetable and why Filipinos love it!

Just some of the many purple yam products from the Philippines

To make this cake is like making
any cake that uses vegetables (such as beetroot or cauliflower), you’ll need to
cook the purple yam, mash them and pass through a sieve to get the finer texture.

L: Frozen grated purple yam and R: Powdered dehydrated purple yam

But since it’s just a few of us
around here, I’m sharing you a cheat version. Sssshhhh!I’ve used dehydrated purple yam
powder, which I simply rehydrated with water, simmering for 20 minutes.You can also buy frozen grated purple yam
from Filipino stores and select Asian shops across Sydney. There is also that
hint of purple yam essence which you can add for that extra bit of flavour and
colour.Otherwise, you can just use any
food colouring combining red and blue till you get the perfect hue.Without the colouring, you’ll get a very
light purple cake, but still keep the purple yam flavour. So either way, you
can’t go wrong.

You don't need this much! Just one bottle will do. I always just tend to overreact when food shopping!

There are a lot of variations on
this cake around Google, but I was most inspired by this version from allrecipes.com
and Pinay in Texas Cooking Corner sans the macapuno (Coconut sports) filling and using Italian buttercream as filling and icing. Just because I like meringue-based frostings! This cake has seen many afternoon teas and
desserts and birthdays in our home.

Place a paper doily on your cake
tray and spread a tablespoon of frosting. This keeps the cake from moving
around.Place the first layer of cake on
the doily.

Pipe the filling onto the cake
using any kind of tip, or simply use a spatula and spread the filling evenly.

Place the second round cake on
the filling and continue icing the cake sides and top.

Using your hands, gently tap some of the crumbed off cuts on the sides of the cake.

Use remaining icing to decorate around the cake or the top.

There are other ways to make this
cake.You can use a rectangle cookie
sheets with sides and make thinner cakes (cooking times will be less) and make
a Swiss roll type of ube cake.For the
icing, you can use cream cheese frosting (sans the lemon) or a simple Creme Chantilly recipe (cream
whipped with icing sugar and vanilla). I believe any kind of white icing will work with this purple cake.

This lovely cake was showcased for dessert last weekend. When the skies were blue, and the jacarandas in full view. We had backyard barbeque with the family and some friends, ate and drank some, and listened to jazz and 80s music all afternoon. Spring, weekends, barbeque, family, friends and cake. What else could you ask for?

Oh my daughter would love your purple cake as it's her favourite colour. What a lovely idea and I too adore jacaranda. I've never thought of cooking with grated purple yam - I'm going to look for it next time I'm at the Asian grocery shop. Cheers!

Ooooh yum this looks absolutely delicious!! Ube is one of my all time favorite flavours, especially the ice cream! I have a jar of the jam and the essence sitting in my cupboard hehe. Would love to make this, thanks for sharing!!

I do love the jacarandas in full bloom around Sydney at the moment. This cake is gorgeous! Such a beautiful deep purple. I've yet to try purple yam cake, but given how good yours looks I think I'll need to try one soon.

Do you actually use the whole bottle of ube extract in the batter or just enough to achieve the color you are looking for? I want to to try making this before my daughters birthday to make sure I get it to come out right.

Hi! I was hoping you left an email address so I can reply to you direct. For the ube essence, I actually used the whole bottle. The cake tends to lighten up a little when baked. If you want to use more, for a deeper colour that would be fine as well. xx

Thanks for this recipe, it was the easiest one I could find online. Married to a Filipino who loves ube cake, so I thought I'd give this a go and glad I did as it turned out well. I used self raising flour instead, and I couldnt find purple yam essence at our local Filo store so I used a few drops of Purple Essence for colour. By the way where do you buy purple yam essence?

Thanks for the kind words too! This is my go-to ube cake recipe. But I'm playing around with a sponge cake to use only purple yam essence for flavouring. It would make the ube flavour very subtle though. :D

Hi Mayumi! Thanks for dropping by. I have never tried freezeing the re-hydrated yam, but I'm sure it should be fine. But why not use it to make Ube Halaya? Its just a simple mixture of the purple yam and condensed milk - mixed to your desired consistency. Then you can enjoy you by the spoonfuls. :D

Hello! I was thinking of using your recipe for my mum's birthday, but I am gonna use a 'normal' yam instead. Can I know how much is 1 cup of yam in grams? I am gonna do it the conventional way of steaming and meshing it. Thanks for your help! Hope you reply fast! =D

Thanks Alvin and good in you for going the traditional way. 1 cup is approximately 250g. If you're using yam you need to cook them first and mash them. If you want other ideas and options you can also check out Jun Belen's blog on ube. Thanks for dropping by.

Hey Bambi (don't mind me calling through your nick!) ! Thanks for the awesome fast reply! I was also wondering, does the taste of ube and yam (taro) differ a lot? I never tried ube before. And I am not able to get the essence as well. Do you think by substituting taro in your recipe is a good choice without the essence? Will the taro taste be protruding enough? My mum loves taro!

Hi Alvin. Purple yam has wry subtle flavor that's why the essence is recommended but you don't have to use essence if you don't want to. The cake will come out less purple in color too. Taro by experience when cooked has a bit of a slimy texture so I don't think you'll get the same result.

I'm visiting this question again! I made or tried to make the Ube Cake for my Birthday over the weekend...FAILED! I reconstituted the whole package per your comment_ it was more than a cup after simmering for 30 minutes (Ube Mix+4 cups Water). Okay,so I cheated w/ a French Vanilla Cake mix_after mixing the cake batter_poured in the cooled Ube mix & beat. I used a 4 1/2 deep cake/bread pan for just a single layer_popped in oven...noticed it started to crack near the end of bake time_cooled it on a rake_came back to check on it_WAS FLAT AS A PANCAKE.The taste was awesome but oh so UGLY! So,do you cook the powder down to 1 cup,when do you add it,would it have been better to use just a little of the powder (not hydrated) & add to mix...I have so many questions! My sister "The Baker in the Family" said that cake mix is not the way to go....the taste was good_PLEASE JUST SEND ME A SLICE OF YOURS...lol

can you pls confirm that a teaspoon of salt is the correct amount? as it seems a lot!! mjkohler@xtra.co.nz i have made the recipe up and it cooks wonderfully. but it is for a special occassion and if too salty I need to cook asap. ta :)

can you pls confirm that a teaspoon of salt is the correct amount? as it seems a lot!! mjkohler@xtra.co.nz i have made the recipe up and it cooks wonderfully. but it is for a special occassion and if too salty I need to cook asap. ta :)

can you please confirm 1 tsp of salt is the correct amount? i have cooked up cake and has cooked well however it is for a special ocassion and will need to recook if too salty. mjkohler@xtra.co.nz :) also does the macapuno need to be drained of syrup before placing inbetween layers. Ta :)

can you pls confirm that a teaspoon of salt is the correct amount? as it seems a lot!! mjkohler@xtra.co.nz i have made the recipe up and it cooks wonderfully. but it is for a special occassion and if too salty I need to cook asap. ta :)

Hi! Thanks for dropping by. The recipe only calls for 1 cup of grated ube. If you're using the powder, once you have rehyrdrated it, use only 1 cup. The instructions on how to rehydrate is on the packet.